Stanford’s soccer program introduced an enormous money infusion Wednesday as faculty sports activities enter a brand new period of income sharing.
Former Cardinal participant Bradford M. Freeman has donated $50 million to this system, the college mentioned in a launch.
Freeman is a longtime donor to Stanford soccer, as he financed the nation’s first endowed head teaching place in 1988, and the college named the top teaching job after him.
“It will help us to recruit top talent and compete at the highest level,” faculty president Jonathan Levin mentioned of the donation in a launch. “Brad’s generosity and commitment to football will benefit our entire athletics department, as excellence in football will support success across all 36 varsity sports.”
Freeman graduated from Stanford in 1964 and went into non-public fairness funding. He served 10 years on Stanford’s board of trustees and, in 2005 paired with enterprise companion Ron Spogli to commit $50 million to endow the Freeman Spogli Institute for Worldwide Research.
Amid the monetary modifications in faculty sports activities — the inflow of Title, Picture and Likeness funds and the addition of income sharing after the Home v. NCAA settlement — Stanford has seen upheaval in its personal administrative construction.
Former soccer coach Troy Taylor, who changed four-time Pac-12 coach of the 12 months David Shaw, was fired final offseason after two years, as stories of his remedy of feminine staffers got here to gentle. Athletic director Bernard Muir resigned in February, being changed by John Donahoe simply final month. In the meantime, Levin has solely been in his publish since final August.
Former star quarterback Andrew Luck grew to become the overall supervisor of soccer on the faculty final November with the aim of turning round a program that has not made a bowl since 2016.
The donation contains “significant support for institutional NIL and creates five new football scholarships for student-athletes,” the college’s launch mentioned.
Stanford is 2-3 to date this season, its second within the ACC after the collapse of the Pac-12, beneath interim coach Frank Reich. The Cardinal face reigning ACC champion SMU on Saturday.
Initially Revealed: October 8, 2025 at 7:51 AM PDT
